BUCOLIC GREEK VILLAGE “ZONIANA” ALLEGED CENTER OF EUROPEAN HASHISH TRADE

A resident of Zoniana seems bemused by a 2007 Special Forces police raid on the village

By Blogonaut
May 9, 2009

Seated for dinner Wednesday in a waterfront taverna in Heraklion (the largest city on the island of Crete), all eyes at our large table tracked the newly arriving diners to their table: Men decked out in black slacks and black open shirts, their women dolled up in a kind of Spice Girls caricature—their brand new black-on-black Mercedes sedan parked conspicuously on the sidewalk in front of the expensive traditional eatery.

The sotto voce explanation delivered by one of the locals at our table: These were residents of a small but notorious village 30 kilometers outside of town which is reputed to be at the center of the European hashish trade—who wear all black, settle their personal grievances with a gun, and are rolling in Euros. So many Euros in fact that the former 'sheepherders' in the sleepy little village of Zoniana, Crete are reputed to have several influential members of the Greek Parliament on their payroll.

Whether the latter allegation is true or not—it is vehemently denied by the Justice Ministry—in November of 2007 someone tipped off an alleged gang leader residing in the sleepy but resolutely feisty village—and a convoy of 15 police vehicles about to search the gang leader’s residence for drugs, guns, and cash was ambushed from the cliffs above with automatic weapons (over 1,000 rounds were fired) leaving one police officer in a coma--before the convoy even entered the village.

Zoniana was thus catapulted from an insular village of 1,500 residents with a fiercely independent reputation (no local government was ever formed there—and no tax official, utility meter reader, or local policeman would dare set foot there) onto the front pages of the Greek national newspapers.

To be sure, Zonianans were always regarded as a feisty lot, but prior to the ambush of that police convoy, which included a Federal prosecutor, the gun violence for which the town was known was primarily confined to one local dispatching another over the occasional family feud—a personal vendetta and not a cause for concern for nonresidents.

All of that changed with the November 5, 2007 ambush—resulting in 120 Greek Special forces descending on the town, and finding evidence of a wide ranging international drug and firearms dealing operation, not to mention the remnants of ATM machines ripped from their housings in nearby towns and subsequently looted of their cash.

On April 29, 2009, 52 residents of the notorious village went to trial in Athens on charges ranging from attempted murder during the police ambush, to drug trafficking; to money laundering (one defendant reportedly had over 1.5 million Euros in his checking account, two more had a cumulative 15 million Euros in the bank, and a third 250 thousand Euros in his refrigurator—not bad for self professed 'sheepherders'). As of this writing that trial is ongoing.

But still, many believe that the 52 on trial are all relatively minor players in the drug and gun trade, and that the true kingpins will escape punishment:

Said one village resident to The Daily Telegraph:

"Now things are better, and the families that were causing trouble are no longer doing so," he said. "But would I ever tell a soul in the outside world about who the troublemakers are? No."

Other Zonianans assert that the town has gotten a bum rap:

“Today, when we go elsewhere in Crete, people see our black shirts, realize we are from Zoniana and think we are bad people,” said one young man to The Daily Telegraph. “But it is part of our tradition, and we will not stop it.”

Still other observers believe that Zoniana is simply a victim of its own centuries-long history of harboring fugitives, most of which has been an honorable one. A cave not far away is said to be where the young Zeus hid from his murderous father Kronos, who killed his first five children at birth in a bid to prevent him overthrowing him as ruler of the Greek gods.

In addition, although gun ownership is illegal in Greece the government turns a blind eye, accepting it as a part of traditional Cretan culture. After all, Crete has a very long history of resisting outside political influences, from Turkish occupation to the Nazi's—and both invading governments found out the hard way just how fiercely independent (and well armed) Cretans are.

Regardless of the outcome of this Greek crime drama though, it would appear that every region needs its occasional high-profile criminal prosecution, and that the Greek island of Crete is no exception.